As an internationally recognized household name, this company is a fierce contender on the marketplace, both offline and online. To showcase just how powerful this international giant has become, here are 25 mind-blowing Walmart statistics that will help you see that Walmart is an ecosystem of its own.
Walmart is a striking example of how a great business idea can grow within the right economic climate and with the right strategic steps, becoming one of the world’s largest companies. Having started as a discount store, Walmart today has millions of employees across the globe, with thousands of stores running under different names.
This brings up very interesting data, so let’s check it out!
Top 10 Walmart Statistics and Facts You Should Know
- On a global scale, Walmart has 11,484 stores in 27 different countries under 56 different brand names.
- In 2005, the company’s annual revenue was $284.31 billion. In 2020, the company will hit around $523.964 billion in revenue.
- The company’s net worth was $514.405 billion in 2019.
- There are 4,756 Walmart stores in the US.
- So far in 2020, groceries have made the most sales—56%.
- Daily, an estimated 37 million people visit Walmart stores across the globe.
- Walmart stores have around 265 million customers each week.
- Walmart wasn’t a big sensation in Germany.
- Walmart stores have the power to crush small local competitors.
- Walmart is probably the most well-known retailer brand in the world.
Walmart History Facts
1. The company is 58 years old and started as a single discount store.
(Walmart)
It might be hard to believe that the retailer-behemoth (previously called Wal-Mart Stores Inc.) started as a single discount store, with a vision of selling more for less. It was founded by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.
2. People refer to Walmart as a “retail giant” for a reason.
(Statista) (Forbes)
What type of company is Walmart? How big is it? The business is a multinational retail corporation operating a massive chain of grocery stores, discount department stores, and hypermarket chains, with headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. According to data from April 30, 2020, the corporation has 11,484 stores in 27 countries under 56 different brand names.
3. Figures of the Walmart annual revenue have nearly doubled since 2005.
(Macrotrends)
The annual figures from 2005 alone show that Walmart’s numbers have been following an upward trajectory. More precisely, back then, the company’s annual revenue was $284.31 billion. It is forecasted to reach around $523.964 billion in 2020.
4. Walmart yearly revenue has been on the rise since the very start.
(MoneyInc)
The early days of the company saw rapid expansion, with Sam Walton making nearly a million dollars in the initial year. Such a trajectory helped the businessman expand his business at a fast pace and open about 18 stores in five years.
In 1970, only eight years after the first-ever Walmart had opened, there were 38 different stores, with two more openings each year on average.
5. Walmart is among the world’s top retailers.
(Revenues and Profits)
In 2020, the Walmart company net worth is $514.405 billion. These digits make it the world’s largest retailer by revenue. Fun fact: the company is also considering the option of breaking into the subscription-video business and establishing its very own video-streaming service.
Walmart Stats by Store Numbers and Sales Figures
6. There are 4,756 Walmart stores in the US.
(Statista)
This includes supercenters, local neighborhood markets, and discount stores—which were the company’s first facilities. The products available include electronics, apparel, furniture, groceries, and home appliances (in stores outside the US as well).
7. On a global scale, Walmart has a total number of 11,501 stores.
(Statista)
With that number of stores, it’s no wonder Walmart is a force to reckon with both on the domestic and the international retailer scene. The company has three separate segments (Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, and Walmart International), the first one being the strongest and most profitable segment.
As of 2020, Walmart U.S. is responsible for 65% of all Walmart’s net sales.
8. Walmart facts: the company is probably the most well-known retailer brand in the world.
(Statista)
According to Statista’s data, Walmart was the most prominent global retailer, with a total annual retail revenue of $514.41 billion in 2018. Following the US giant was the Costco Wholesale Corporation, making a total of $141.58 billion, and the third was Amazon Inc., with $140.21 billion.
9. Market forecast: according to experts, Walmart will stay at the forefront in the market.
(PipeCandy)
Regarding Walmart market share forecasts, they are very positive for the retailer giant in the new decade. In December 2019, the company’s stock price was $119.095 billion. Experts predicted that in 2020, the same stock would reach $197.2 billion.
10. Last year brought a considerable increase in Walmart’s online sales.
(PipeCandy)
According to PipeCandy, online sales increased by 41% in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. The company’s share went up by about 1%, having previously risen by 30% in 2019, signaling a steady Walmart growth rate in the future.
11. Walmart sales by category: shoppers are mostly buying groceries.
(Statista)
According to data following Walmart’s 2020 net sales in the US by product category, groceries made the most, generating 56% of all net sales that Walmart U.S. made. Next on the list were general merchandise items with 32%. The third category was health and wellness products with 11%, while the remaining 1% were products categorized as “other.”
12. Millions visit Walmart stores on a global scale.
(Statista)
How many customers visit Walmart daily? According to Statista’s visitor statistics regarding Walmart and its daily foot traffic, in 2020, an estimated average of 37 million people used these stores across the planet.
13. Weekly, Walmart stores have around 265 million customers.
(Statista)
Upon taking a closer look at these figures, it becomes clear that the firm’s weekly foot traffic has dropped slightly since the previous year when the average count was around 275 million per week.
So far, the figures for 2020 are only better than in 2017, as customer service research shows the weekly customer count was 260 million.
Walmart Interesting Facts for Investors and Competition
14. Walmart has been associated with bribes abroad.
(The New York Times)
Last year, Walmart was accused of bribing foregin officials and eventually pleaded guilty. The company paid a fine of $282 million after reaching a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice in one of the biggest foreign corruptcy investigations ever.
15. Walmart statistics show investors seeking to invest in Walmart look for a quick return of investment.
(The Motley Fool)
With such large revenue numbers, it’s no wonder that this retailer giant is also in many investors’ focal points.
That being said, Amazon was more popular among those looking for an opportunity to grow their business in the long-term, while people who favored Walmart were looking for more hands-on ways to boost their income.
16. Walmart didn’t achieve success in Germany.
(MoneyInc)
Among the most interesting facts about Walmart is that their first encounter with the German market wasn’t one for the books. Walmart started to gain more ground on the international scene around the1990s, with its first fruitful operations in the UK, South America, and China.
Nevertheless, their operations in Germany were shut down shortly after opening because the brand had never really taken off. Some experts attributed the failure to excessive efforts to impress the German population with American cultural values.
Germans found the smiling, cheerful Walmart employees and the bubbly greeters at the entrance somewhat off-putting. Eventually, Walmart’s refusal to embrace German customers’ values cost the company around one billion. All its operations in the strongest and largest economy in Europe ceased.
17. Instead of bringing it in, Walmart stores may be taking away money from communities.
(Business News Daily)
Perhaps the most saddening of “Walmart negative facts” is the retailer’s potential to take money away from the community where it opens. According to a report by Puget Sound Sage, in a 20-year period, a Walmart store can potentially decrease a neighborhood’s economic output by $13 million and may also cost that specific community another $14 million in lost wages.
Professionals who conducted the study state that the majority of losses come from the smaller wages Walmart pays on an hourly base, with a difference of at least $3 an hour.
18. In the Amazon vs. Walmart revenue battle, the latter wins without a doubt.
(The Motley Fool)
When looking at the figures for the previous fiscal year, Amazon managed to generate around $87.4 billion in revenue in the last quarter of the year. In comparison, Walmart nearly doubled that amount with a whopping $141.7 billion.
19. Walmart financial analysis reports show that solid figures and suggestive forecasts are enough to influence stock market trends.
(NYPost)
Namely, last year the firm reported a better financial third quarter than expected, raising its annual shares over 3%. Even more remarkable is the fact that in 2019, Walmart achieved an over-five-year-long streak of steady, uninterrupted growth, unparalleled by any other retailer.
Walmart Employment Statistics
20. Nearly half of the company’s employees work part-time.
(Reuters)
According to the 2018 report by the Organization United for Respect (formerly known as OUR Walmart), a dominant 69% of these part-time workers wanted to be full-time employees. This share of the company’s part-time employees is well above the average in the industry (approximately 30%).
21. How many employees does Walmart have exactly?There are 2.2 million people currently working for Walmart across the planet.
(Walmart)
The company’s website states that around 75% of its store management teams began working for Walmart as hourly associates, and last year, they had over 215,000 promotions.
The company also states that these management teams yearly earn anywhere from $50,000 to $170,000.
Walmart Theft Statistics
22. Aiming to eliminate store crimes, in 2016, Walmart invested $2.7 billion to provide higher wages and attract more high-caliber employees.
(Forbes)
Experts then believed that adding 250,000 part-time employees would solve the problem of store theft—or at least halve the number of crimes. However, that would have cost the company another $3.25 billion a year.
23. Walmart shrinkage statistics: when the company’s big, so are its shoplifting losses.
(Forbes)
According to 2016 data released by Reuters, Walmart loses around $3 billion each year due to shoplifting. That amount constitutes 1% of the retailer’s $300 billion in revenue in the US.
24. Aggressive investment in weeding out theft in Walmart stores actually wouldn’t pay off.
(Forbes)
As a 2014 survey by the US National Retail Federation reveals, with average retailers, shrinkage amounts to approximately 1.4% of sales, and only 38% of that percentage is from shoplifting. Another 35% is caused by employee theft and things such as cashier and administrative errors, damaged goods, etc.
Walmart crime statistics clearly explain why the retailer giant hasn’t made more drastic moves to fight theft. Walmart’s US sales are about $300 billion annually, 35% of 1.4% of that roughly amounts to $1.5 billion.
More security and more staff training means more money (about 3.25 billion each year, as previously mentioned). From a financial standpoint, it wouldn’t make sense for Walmart to end up spending several billion dollars every year on a problem that’s expected to cost around $1.5 billion.
25. Walmart discrimination facts: the company is anti-union.
(The Atlantic) (Bloomberg Law) (The Walrus)
With over a million employees in the United States only, Walmart is America’s largest employer in the private sector. The company also has a long history of being an aggressive anti-union business and trying to crush its employees’ unionization efforts.
FAQs
How much does 1 Walmart make a day?
(MoneyNation) (Walmart)
Current Walmart revenue data (available on the retailer’s website) reveals that the company made a total of $524 billion during the fiscal year that ended in January 2020. If we take that figure and divide it with the number of Walmart stores around the world, a yearly revenue of a single Walmart store is $45,561,255. Divided by 365 (days), we could say a Walmart store makes about $124,825 per day.
Moreover, the company pays around $7.5 billion in taxes each year, which is approximately 50% of its average yearly profit.
How many regular Walmarts are left?
(Statista)
Based on the latest numbers from Statista, in the US, the total number of Walmart supercenters is 3,571. The number of neighborhood markets is significantly lower—809. The total number of Walmart discount stores is 376.
These figures show a steady increase in most cases since 2012 when the total number of supercenters, neighborhood markets, and discount stores was 3,029, 210, and 629. As you can see, the number of discount stores has dropped significantly over the years.
How much did Walmart profit in 2019?
(Walmart) (Macrotrends)
According to the company’s website, its total revenue for the last fiscal year was $524 billion, and its gross profit was $129.104 billion, which is 1.7% higher than in 2018 ($126.947 billion). It’s also worth mentioning that Walmart revenue in 2018 was a total of $500.343 billion.
How popular is Walmart?
(YouGov)
Walmart is the most famous department store in the US and the 5th most popular brand in its category. The surveyed praised Walmart for its great value deals, family-oriented approach, and availability.
The research data also indicates that nearly 99% of people have heard of Walmart.
Moreover, 62% of people have a positive opinion about the company; 19% of the people asked have a negative opinion. The remaining 19% have no opinion about the company.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that Walmart statistics speak for themselves. The company’s been enjoying steady growth in the past years and is gaining more ground as one of the most prominent retailers, along with giants like Amazon. Its arms stretch further than the US, being a global corporation with three specific business segments conducting business worldwide.
